Why do Muslim nations treat women like second class citizens, not allowing education for girls, requiring women to be fully covered (even their hair and faces), throwing acid on them, etc?

Muslim View

Proper treatment of women is something very important in Islam. Islam is a perfect religion, having no flaws or errors whatsoever. Muslims are those who strive to practice this perfect religion but, as they are human beings, may have flaws or make errors in their adherence to it. So there has to be a distinction between what Islam teaches and what you may see some Muslims doing.

In Islam, acquiring knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim. One of the most knowledgeable people in the history of Islam was A'ishah, the wife of Prophet Muhammad. One of the oldest, if not the oldest, schools for girls was founded in Sudan, a Muslim nation. In the Arabian Peninsula, which includes Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, Qatar and Bahrain, there are many schools that provide education for boys and girls, all the way to 12th grade. In some of these nations, women-only branches of banks, hospitals and other institutions are a normal part of society. There are schools to educate girls in many Muslim nations in Africa, as well as Pakistan and Malaysia. I have heard that there are places where education for women is not encouraged, due to the goals of those particular societies. But they shouldn't be considered as the norm, nor should their lack of doing so be considered to be Islamic, although they maybe Muslim.

Islam requires that men and women dress in a way to preserve modesty. Of those requirements is for women to cover their hair, with some experts including the face. This injunction is for the preservation of the society and is in no way meant as a harm to women. One of the most revered Muslim women in all of history was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She is often depicted as covering in the manner that other Muslim women do, yet she is never thought of as second-class. Nuns often cover their hair and wear modest clothing, yet they are never thought as being treated as second-class citizens. However when a Muslim nation decides to implement this Islamic mandate into its laws, which it has a right to do and anyone who doesn't like it can leave, its considered to have mistreated women in some way or to have taken their rights away. What about France, not a Muslim nation, and the other nations that want to ban Muslim women from choosing to cover their modesty? Are they treating women as second-class?

Islam does not permit injustice. The acts of some Muslims with respect to throwing acid on women and other such acts of injustice, are not from Islam. They are from culture that exists in those respective places, and the people may be ignorant that Islam forbids such things. The best way to reform such places is for the people to be properly educated in the teachings of Islam.

Comments

You cannot compare the dress of, for example, nuns, who CHOSE to enter into service, with that imposed on ALL women, without ever giving them the choice of not wearing the veil that covers their hair and sometimes their faces. When you argue "This injunction is for the preservation of the society and is in no way meant as a harm to women.", you do not give any reasons to support your contention. How is having all women covered at all times help preserve society? To me, the message is obvious in this injunction: women must hide in order to remove any temptation for men. In other words, men are not recognized as having willpower and take responsibility for their actions.

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Florence

Florence, the simple fact is that men are easily visually stimulated by attractive women. You can heehaw around all you want to about it, but it is just the way things are...women can dress modestly (as they also USED to do in Christian countries) or they can dress in a way that displays their figure for all to see. When women dress in the second way you start to have all the problems of sexual abuse we have in our society (not that such problems are completely absent in traditional societies).

Now, you want to put the onus on men, but I would ask why do modern women have to dress in such revealing ways? Is there not a word for that: vanity..?

Modesty is not oppressive it simply appears so to modern Westerners because we are so atomized and do not generally recognize higher values than our own personal desires (like dressing immodestly). We are a society of adolescents. You also exhibit the now centuries old mindset that Western ideas are always the best.

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Frank

Frank, I'd gathered from your previous posts that you're a bit of a Luddite but this takes the biscuit. This is the 21st century mate - if you want a faith-based society where women have to dress "modestly" so as not to arouse men's apparently "uncontrollable" desires, there's always Afghanistan under the Taliban.

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Tony

Tony - you exhibit the typical modern lack of any sense of proportion.

So all traditional societies were like modern Afghanistan? Modern Afghanistan is nothing but a perversion of tradition in the wake of decades of occupation by British, Russians and Americans that destroyed the previous systems of rule.

The whole "this is the 21st century" also reveals your Euro-centric viewpoint. Westerners have developed this ridiculous idea of history as progress; and of course this is developed by dismissing the past with complete contempt.

I should note this mentality of history as progress and contempt for the past makes an absurdity of Western 'progressives' who pretend to have respect for non-Western cultures.

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Frank

Obviously, all cultures which do not or did not conform to modern Western ideals must be, in the words of Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann "equally worthless," and deserving of only dismissal and contempt. Just a bunch of different versions of Taliban run Afghanistan, huh?

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Frank

Frank - for the moment, I'll set aside your blatant straw man and ask you a simple question. To what extent would you agree that a woman who is raped is culpable if she dresses in a way that is too "visually stimulating"?

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Tony

Eerrm Frankie mate, just because a man cannot control his penis doesn't mean a woman should have to dress in a particular way. We all have a choice to dress in whichever way we so please. Men should cover their eyes if they can't help but perv! I mean what do you expect from people who think it's fine to marry a 9 year old girl huh?!
As for comparing to a nun, like the other poster said, that's a choice.

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Tash

If it is modest for woman to cover their hair why would it not be the same for men? You claim education for woman is equal to men in the Muslim world yet they have to cover themselves head to tow sometimes in 50 degrees Celsius while men enjoy a light t-short and shorts. If you believe someone is equal to you then they get equal rights. Which means the same clothing, jobs and pay. Woman in Saudi can't even drive a car legally. Do you realize woman get vitamin d deficiencies by not being exposed to the sun? Do you think God wants that?

Many Muslims hate dogs because Mohamed said he killed them all! The teachings of Jesus is one of respect for your neighbour and good will to all. Prayer for the weak and the sick. I am not super religious but I know what sounds better to me. You didn't mention that Muslim woman are not allowed to date. Fathers get to pick their husbands, how equal. I am tired of pretending there is anything ok with Islam views of woman in society.

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Sott Gauthier

anyone who doesnt like it can leave? i suppose if by leave that would be beheaded,beaten to death because rape brought shame. killed for wanting an education. this is absurd . it is what it is. not buying it

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concerned

I am confused by a few things mentioned in this article.

How can Jesus' mother Mary be Muslim? The religion of Islam did not even exist when she was alive.

The definition of "modesty" varies dramatically depending on who you ask. Some people have the opinion that modest is about coverage of skin, but still wear flamboyant, attention getting, and even clingy attire. Others think it's about a humble attitude, not unnecessarily calling attention to one's self in any capacity. Either way, it seems to me that someone who dresses in a manner that is normal attire for their immediate environment, and blending in with the people around them constitutes modesty more than "full coverage." After all I heard a Muslim woman talk about how she designs "modest" attire, yet her designs showed curves, and had flashy attention grabbing "bling."

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Tammié

Could one of the men on here defending the forcible subjugation of women under Islam please explain how "those who don't like it can leave"? Just how is a 15 year old girl with extremely limited education, training, and knowledge of the outside world, who is about to be married off to a 40 year old man, supposed to leave? How could she possibly do that? Where could she possibly go?

I suppose it's easy for Muslim men to defend a system where they sit and reap the benefits. Give women a voice and see how happy they are with this situation.

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Katie

Islam is not a perfect religion none of the various faiths are. That is just blind ignorance to science.

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Tom Saggers

Also Islam and Muslim are interchangeable that is the reality not this ideological nonsense your spouting.

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Tom Saggers

It goes back further than Mary, according to Islam tradition Muslims believe Abraham was Muslim as well.

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D. Donner

A perfect religion uttered from the mouth of an illiterate lost in the desert yeah right

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EddieT

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